Broken Gear Selector Spring..... Oh No Mine Is Different HELP!

I gave my daughter our MKII Level 3 Fabia for her 18th birthday and decided to fix some issues. One of the faults was a floppy gear shift due to a broken return spring. Easy enough, I had the seats and centre console out anyway so I could Puzzi the carpets so easy access to the gear shift. I found a cheap spring kit online and set about replacing the spring, only to find in my car, the pin going through the lever has been peened over like a rivet!! WTF YOU ARE FREAKING JOKING ME SKODA, no way to change the spring without damaging the lever which is not available seperately. Great, I'm screwed.

Put thinking cap on, these used to be secured with a bolt I'm sure.

This may help someone else....

I decided to drill a 5mm hole in the centre of the shaft, used an M6 x 1.0mm pitch tap BEFORE releasing the shaft from the lever to give a stable platform to drill into the centre of the pin.

I found a suitable T30 torx screw in my "out the **** kit". ONCE I was happy the screw fitted and held the lever in place correctly, using an 8mm drill bit inserted into the tip of the new bolt hole as a guide, I drilled and removed a very small ammount of pin retaining material to release the lever from the pin. Dont go too far, just enough to remove the outer material, this then leaves the machined part of the pin to locate the lever securly and allows the bolt to fit correctly. I used the tap again to clean up the first few threads damaged by the drilling. The spring can now be replaced.

The new screw was fitted with thread lock: it is now serviceable for the future.

NOTHING ON YOUTUBE OR FORUMS FOR FABIA FITTED WITH THIS POXY MONEY SAVING WAY OF SECURING THE PIN GERRRRRR. Hope this helps many people.

M6x1.0mm Tap NB Drill a 5mm hole in the centre ensuring it remains straight as it goes in PRIOR to drilling the peened pin for stability.

The peened pin has been removed for clarity showing the treaded bolt hole

Use an 8mm drill bit to remove just enough material to free the pin. You dont want to reduce the size of the bush going into the lever.

All done with new spring installed.

Install bolt with thread lock. This bolt also had serrations under it's head providing more grip.

Broken Leg of removed spring

Incidentally, if anyone knows where to get the little 3 for the tailgate, let me know, someone nicked ours and they are no longer available from TPS.

Peened Over 4.jpg.HEIC

Edited Sunday at 16:004 days by 3T51704x4
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